As the school year begins to draw to a close, hundreds of thousands of college students will scramble for careers that will be as satisfying to their pocketbook as they will be to their mental well-being.

Your trendier and more gargantuan bookstores will be lined with dry tomes filled with facts about the current job market. “Nice Job: The Guide to Cool, Odd, Risky, and Gruesome Ways to Make a Living” is a lighter look at some career choices you may have considered in the past if you like to drink while watching B-Movies and the commercials they come with.

“Nice Job” is divided into chapters like “Up on High,” “Call of the Wild” and “Sex Sells.”

Each chapter has a variety of off-beat occupations for the adventurous. Far from being just a joke compilation of weird jobs, an interested job-seeker could theoretically use this book as a resource.

Each occupation listed contains a description of the job, average pay, prerequisites, qualities employers look for perks, risks, drawbacks and practical information showing readers where to find resources for locating employers.

For example, anyone interested in becoming a porno actor will be surprised to find out that straight males are only paid $150 per scene, yet must be able to maintain an erection for hours on end under hot lights in front of a crew and ejaculate virtually on command. The upside is that if you can do all that, most employers don’t care if you are ugly or not. You learn something new every day.

To be a telephone psychic, one must possess only a telephone, be entertaining and have a high tolerance for dealing with seriously depressed people. Nearly everyone who calls a psychic is in distress, which would explain how telephone psychics stay in business in the first place.

Some of the other whacky occupations include Harlem Globetrotter opponent, body part model, stripper, mall Santa, mystery shopper, bush pilot, Bigfoot research director, Christmas tree farmer, paid audience member, bicycle messenger, aquaculturist, mercenary, ice sculptor, funeral home cosmetologist and much more.

In spite of some of the more lurid occupations mentioned, “Nice Job” actually introduces readers to occupations they may not have realized existed.

For example, audience members on talk shows are usually so ridiculously stupid, it is hard to believe that the majority of them are actually paid to be there. It really gives one hope.

Nearly one fourth of the fish consumed in the world come from fish farms. Aquaculture is a booming industry.

Another group that is never short of clientele is mortuary cosmetologists. Ninety percent of the work deals with the living and the creative freedom is limited. If you make a mistake, the hair won’t grow back any time soon so how you cut it is the way it will stay for a while.

“Nice Job” is a light and entertaining read for those not seriously looking for a job or for those who are dead tired of looking for real world employment.

Strange as it may seem, if you are looking to take the road less traveled, “Nice Job” may give you some fresh material to work with.

3 Stars

Rating based on a 5 Star scale.